Country Joe McDonald, antiwar music icon, dies at 84
The leads singer of Country and the Fish was best known for his antiwar song 'I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag'
March 09, 2026
Country Joe McDonald, the influential protest singer best known for the Vietnam War-era anthem I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag, has died at the age of 84.
According to a statement from his wife Kathy, the musician passed away at his home in Berkeley, California, due to complications related to Parkinson’s disease.
Born Joseph Allen McDonald on Jan. 1, 1942, in Washington, D.C., he served in the U.S Navy before co-founding the psychedelic rock band Country Joe and the Fish. Emerging from the San Francisco counterculture scene, the group blended psychedelic sounds with sharp political commentary, becoming closely associated with the anti-war movement.
McDonald’s most famous song, I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag, became a defining protest anthem during the Vietnam War. The track gained worldwide attention after McDonald performed it solo at the 1969 Woodstock festival, famously leading the massive crowd through the “Fish Cheer,” a call-and-response chant before launching into the song.
Country Joe and the Fish released their debut album Electric Music for the Mind and Body in 1967, helping establish the group within the San Francisco psychedelic rock movement alongside acts like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead.
After the group split in the 1970s, McDonald continued releasing music and performing as a solo artist for decades. His 1986 album Vietnam Experience revisited the cultural and political themes that had shaped much of his early work.
